What Goes Around
by D. M. Evans
Summary: Winry gives a little payback


What Goes Around

Author- Cornerofmadness

Disclaimer – do you hear me mooing? Didn't think so. All rights belong to Arakawa et al

Rating – PG-13

Pairing – Ed/Winry

Time Line- manga based post series

Summary – Since Ed thinks its fun to scare his brother, Winry decides to turn the tables

Author's Note – While Amestris has no Earth holidays, pagan or otherwise, this technically isn't Halloween fic, but I've never seen a culture without some ghostly stories so… oh and it's self-betaed due to time constraints so all errors are on my head.

Sometimes Ed just didn't know when to quit. Winry had known that for years but he was proving it tonight. Granted, Al was an easy target. He never had been very good with ghost stories, especially when he was a kid. Winry remembered Ed tormenting Al at will back then. One of Ed's favorite two ghost stories had revolved around getting Alphonse into the attic then taking away the ladder and telling Al there was a ghost up there. Al would curl up at the opening to the attic, sobbing. The other was to wait until Al would sneak out of his bed and try to get into Ed's and Ed would tell him the monster under the bed would eat him before he made it into Ed's bed. Aunt Trisha would get so mad at Ed for scaring his brother and Granny would just point out that's what big brothers are for.

Tonight, Al had insisted on going to the inn to visit with Mustang and Hawkeye. They had come to town to see him now that his returned body was strong enough for him to actual get around. Winry knew both soldiers were still getting over their own nearly fatal injuries, and Mustang had been trying to keep involved with the newly forming government, so their visit had been delayed. Winry had wanted to have them come to her home, wanting to spend time with Riza after a steady diet of nothing but young men rattling around the house, but understood Al needed to move and get a change of scenery so she and Ed had bundled him up and let him walk into town, Ed fretting the whole way.

She couldn't remember what had started it, maybe her question about Xing and Ran Fan but it had led to talk about that faraway country. Mustang, having roots there, had started telling ghost stories from Xing until she and Al were jumping. Ed had gotten into the act, scaring his brother just like old times. At first Winry had liked it because it reminded her of simpler days before it all went wrong but after awhile, Ed should have seen Al was wound up, but he hadn't let up. Winry knew it was just because he was so glad to have his brother back the way he should be and Ed had gotten carried away. And even though Al knew there were no such things as ghosts, walking him back home in the dark was going to be an experience. As they were saying their goodbyes, Winry pulled Al aside and whispered her plan to him. His gold eyes sparkled at the idea.

"You know, Ed, Al, we had a tragedy here while you were gone," she said once they had gotten away from all the streetlights and only had her lantern to guide the way.

"Oh?" Al asked, playing along.

Winry nodded, delighted there was a cool and very brisk wind echoing eerily in the trees. It was a perfect compliment. "The Goodman girl, remember her?" she asked, making up names as she went. "Her fiancé ran off the day of their wedding leaving her heartbroken. She threw herself in front of the train, still wearing her good dress."

"That's a stupid thing to do over some guy," Ed huffed, not surprising Winry by his stunning lack of empathy and romance.

"Brother, he crushed her will to live, leaving like that," Al said and Ed waved a dismissive hand at him.

"But her spirit doesn't rest," Winry said, seeing Granny's house, still a bit distant. "It haunts all the roads of Resembol, looking for her worthless lover." Winry allowed for a dramatic pause. "She's seen best at nights like this."

"Don't believe in ghosts, Winry," Ed informed her.

"Oh, you don't believe in anything. I've seen her myself, Edward," Winry told him and he looked over his shoulder at her with an expression that suggested maybe she had grown a second head. "It's true. You know when she's close because the air gets cold and there's a soft howling through the trees." The wind obligingly offered up a groan through the bare branches of the tree-lined roadway.

"You mean like that, Winry?" Al asked, doing a convincing job of being panicked.

"Exactly, Al," Winry said, glad Ed was still in front of her plowing determinedly toward home. She bent down and snagged a fall tree branch. "And then you feel her thin fingers clawing at your back, trying to turn you around to see if you're her fiancé. They say she'll kill him when she finds him."

"And they know this how?" Ed scoffed, waving his hands.

"Does it matter, brother? Ooo, I think I hear something," Al said, picking up his pace, breezing past his brother.

"I think I hear something too, Al," Winry said, ""It is feeling cold."

"It's cold because it's autumn," Ed said. "I can't beli-!" Ed's words of disbelief dissolved into a bleat of fear as Winry raked the finger-like branch down his back. The young man nearly knocked Al over, racing past him. Ed whipped around, his arm shaped into a sword, looking for the ghost.

Winry and Al nearly fell over laughing. Al pointed at his brother, "Going to stab a ghost, brother?"

"I thought you were going to wet yourself, Edward," Winry gasped, dropping the branch.

"That wasn't funny!" Ed snarled, letting his arm flow back to normal. "I knew it wasn't a damn ghost,"

"That's why you jumped out of your skin," Al said, slapping his brother's back.

Ed growled something unintelligible and stalked up to the house. Still giggling, Winry helped Al the rest of the way. Ed was waiting for them in the kitchen. He shook his metal fist. "I didn't believe for a second it was a ghost."

Winry patted his cheek. "Look at you blush."

"I am not," he growled, pulling away.

"You are." Al snickered then glanced over at Winry, reading her expression. "I'm tired so I'm going up to bed."

Winry watched Al go, knowing he wanted to give them some private time. Winry knew how Ed felt about her and now that Al was back and well on the road to recovery she was hopeful this would be her and Edward's time. She turned to Ed. "Admit it, I scared you."

His face screwed up, his chin jutting out. Ed refused to answer.

Winry slipped an arm around him and kissed his hot cheek. "And I enjoyed it." She let him go. "I'll be upstairs if you need to cuddle up so the bad ghost won't get you!" Winry gave Ed's backside a pat, stunning him. She sauntered out of the room, looking back at him grinning at his slack jawed expression and at the lust clouding up his gold eyes. "Provided I don't punish you first for SHAPING MY AUTOMAIL!"

From the horrified look, Winry knew she frightened Ed more than any ghost. Of course, she had just talked herself out of snuggling. Sighing, Winry went upstairs, hoping Ed would take a risk.


End file.
